Mobile Technology

Towards a Mobile Learning Curriculum

by Jacqueline Batchelor

Botha, A., Batchelor, J., Traxler, J., De Waard, I., & Herselman, M. E. (2012). Towards a Mobile Learning Curriculum. Paper presented at the IST-Africa 2012, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The rapid spread and penetration of mobile devices to every layer of society has confronted the educational community... more The rapid spread and penetration of mobile devices to every layer of society has confronted the educational community with many new opportunities and responsibilities. As mobile computing and its disruptive aftermath enter the education arena, the challenge becomes how to harness the potential in ways that are beneficial to the educational community at large and the learners in particular. This paper outlines the initial conception, design research methodology followed and the development of the definitive Mobile Learning Curriculum Framework as a first attempt to systematically and comprehensively explore, where and how mobiles could appear within educational provision. The curriculum framework is underpinned by three broad learning objectives; to acquire domain knowledge, to develop sufficient and appropriate skills to enable mobile learning practice and to understand the role and impact of domain knowledge in the relation to the application context. To this end the curriculum framework is presented as a modular solution for adaption to accommodate differing contexts.

There's an App for that: Information Technology Applications for Cognitive Behavioral Practitioners

by Adrian Aguilera

Italiani maniaci del cellulare: trascorrono al telefono il 25% del loro tempo

by Giulia Franchi

in collaborazione con http://cellulari.supermoney.eu/

Il settore dei cellulari non conosce crisi nel nostro Paese: gli italiani sono disposti a tante rinunce per ridurre le... more Il settore dei cellulari non conosce crisi nel nostro Paese: gli italiani sono disposti a tante rinunce per ridurre le spese, ma non riescono a separarsi dal proprio telefonino. Così, malgrado le notevoli difficoltà economiche, nei primi tre mesi del 2012 è aumentato esponenzialmente l’uso del cellulare. Gli italiani trascorrono circa 4 ore al giorno al telefonino: è quanto emerge da uno studio condotto da SuperMoney (http://www.supermoney.eu/), l’unico portale italiano accreditato da Agcom per i servizi di confronto del campo della telefonia.

L’analisi SuperMoney, condotta sulla base di un campione di 40 mila utenti del portale, compara i dati dell’ultimo trimestre 2011 con quelli dei primi tre mesi 2012. Nel primo trimestre del 2012 si rileva un vero e proprio boom nelle connessioni internet da smartphone. Il tempo di connessione si è allungato del 36 %, arrivando a circa 3 ore e 15 minuti ogni giorno.

In aumento anche il numero di chiamate (+13,19%quelle in uscita, + 3,81% quelle in entrata) e la loro durata. Anche i messaggi crescono: in un solo trimestre sono passasti da 6,5 a 7,3 sms inviati ogni giorno.

Tirando le somme, ogni giorno gli italiani trascorrono circa 37 minuti parlando al cellulare (24 minuti per le chiamate in uscita, 13 minuti per quelle in entrata), circa un quarto d’ora al giorno se ne va inviando sms (ipotizzando di dedicare in media due minuti a ogni messaggio) e per circa 3 ore e un quarto si naviga sul web da cellulare. In totale, a fine giornata, vengono spese 4 ore tra sms, chiamate e navigazione internet: un quarto del nostro tempo da svegli.

Prototype Development in Mobile-Learning Design Research

by Alan Foley

Co-authored with Heng Luo

This paper explores the challenges in developing prototypes for mobile app development and explains how a web-based... more This paper explores the challenges in developing prototypes for mobile app development and explains how a web-based prototype addresses these challenges and can assist designers in both the design and testing process. The authors explored issues around prototype development by studying a prototype created for iAdvocate, an educational mobile application. Using data from the process of developing and implementing iAdvocate, the authors explore the criteria and requirements regarding the prototype development in mobile-learning design.

Developing Web Prototypes for Mobile-Learning Design Research

by Alan Foley

Energy Patterns and Urbanisation

by Dermott McMeel

position paper presentation for Mobisys 2012 Workshop: Next generation mobile computing for dynamic personalised travel planning.

Transportation arteries have - by and large - emerged from what
Jeremy Rifkin [1] calls‚ ‘energy systems’ and the... more Transportation arteries have - by and large - emerged from what
Jeremy Rifkin [1] calls‚ ‘energy systems’ and the associated
nodes of energy production and consumption. He cites our
reliance on - and continued adherence to - patterns formed during the first industrial revolution. Whether we choose to meditate on the historical development of canals, railways or roads, the energies of production and consumption would seem to still largely inform transportation networks in the 21st Century. Public and private transportation systems appropriate these industrial arteries and we find habitation and commerce emerging as accretions round them. The information used by planning specialists to design transportation today continues to be informed by the energy patterns of production and consumption of habitation, commerce and industry. The primary foundations on which we continue to build and plan cities are these unquestioned historic pillars.

Designing Online Collaborative Location-Aware Platform for History Learning

by June Xiaojun Chen

The authors express their sincere gratitude to Dr. Sorin A. Matei for his guidance in designing the course module and his provision of platform content.

The emergence of geographic visualization and location aware technologies provides educators and teachers with an... more The emergence of geographic visualization and location aware technologies provides educators and teachers with an opportunity to design more effective instructional materials. Visible Past is an innovative learning and discovery project that integrates mapping services with a content management system and 3D virtual reality capabilities. In addition, the system allows for the connection of physical locations or objects such as books and digital artifacts and documents through 2D codes. Similar to barcodes, they can be read by any camera enabled cell phone
triggering information retrieval from the web. This adds an element of portability and of meshing up print based media with digital information to the educational process. This paper describes
a recent attempt to integrate a location-aware platform into the high school history curriculum. Authors have reviewed the literature related to online history inquiry activity (i.e. collaborative
and reflective learning in history), as well as to newly innovative context-aware learning theory. The process of the module design is described and grounded in the literature. Learning effects and
future development paths of proposed technology are discussed.

Chen, X. & Choi, J. (2010). Designing online collaborative location-aware platform for history learning. Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange, 3(1), 13-26.

ConsoleGBL-Pedagogy_GROFF-HOWELLS-CRANMER

by Jennifer S. Groff

Co-authored with Cathrin Howells and Sue Cranmer

The main focus of this research project was to identify the educational benefits of console game-based learn- ing in... more The main focus of this research project was to identify the educational benefits of console game-based learn- ing in primary and secondary schools. The project also sought to understand how the benefits of educational gaming could transfer to other settings. For this purpose, research was carried out in classrooms in Scotland to explore learning with games played on games consoles, such as PlayStation, Xbox, and Wii. Interviews were carried out with school leaders, classroom teachers, and students in 19 schools and followed up by a series of lesson observations in four of these schools. Findings include significant impact on students’ performance and engagement, as well as strong support from participating teachers and school leaders.

Creating Mapping Applications for the iPhone

by Kiichi Takeuchi

Cartographic Perspectives
Journal of the
North American Cartographic Information Society
SPECIAL DIGITAL ISSUE 2
Number 66, Fall 2010

Kiichi Takeuchi (kiichi.takeuchi@liu.edu)
Patrick J. Kennelly (patrick.kennelly@liu.edu)

INTRODUCTION
Any locational-based service (LBS) should take into account specific requirements associated with... more INTRODUCTION
Any locational-based service (LBS) should take into account specific requirements associated with the users, locations, contexts, and data ( Jiang and Yao 2006). One category of LBS gaining much notoriety and popularity in the past few years are mapping applications that run on smartphones. These small and lightweight mobile computing devices, which often have built-in global positioning systems, have ever-increasing connectivity, storage capacity, computational power, and battery life (Chang and Chen 2005).
Mobile mapping application developers should consider the following aspects of this emerging LBS. First, users are numerous and may be globally distributed. Second, the context within which mobile mapping applications are being used is increasing. Dey (2001) describes the context as “any information that can be used to characterize the situation of...a person, place, or object that is considered relevant to the interaction between a
user and an application, including the user and applications themselves.” Third, high speed wireless networks and smartphone storage capacity ensure large quantities of data are readily accessible by the user. Such a wealth
Cartographic Perspectives, Number 66, Fall 2010 Creating Mapping Applications for the iPhone – Takeuchi & Kennelly | 71
of opportunities offers great challenges and rewards to effective mobile application design and development (Kangas and Kinnunen 2005). Beginning such design and development from scratch, however, can be a time-consuming and tedious task. To streamline design, many smartphone application developers follow a process similar to creating mashups on the Internet. Google Maps is widely used for web-based maps, as the Application Programming Interface (API) is available for extension. In many cases, point locations are added to the Google Maps basemap (Miller 2006). With more advanced programming, other cartographic researchers have implemented choropleth maps (Peterson 2008) and animated mashups (Roth and Ross 2009) using the Google Maps API.
Similar mapping mashups can be created for smartphones. In this article, we describe how simple mapping applications can be created or modified for the Apple iPhone. We chose the iPhone because it leads the smartphone market in number of applications and because of its ease of distribution via the Apple App Store. Apple also offers a development environment that is available free of charge. A simple iPhone application plots the user’s current location on a Google Maps basemap. More interesting applications, however, plot point locations from web databases. As an example, the Mailbox Find app, created by ObjectGraph (http://www.objectgraph.com/) and available in the Apple iTunes Store, displays all mailboxes in the United States in proximity to the user. The 8.6 Mb of information, consisting of 178,315 points, included in the database is downloaded and stored locally on the iPhone.
To help developers get started in accessing locations from databases, ObjectGraph (the application development company for which the first author is a founder) has launched a project called GeoGears, an open-source, map-based iPhone app project. The goals of GeoGears are twofold. One
is to serve as a generic application into which users without programming knowledge can add their customized geographic locations. The second, not explored in this introductory article, is to provide an open source project that can be customized by programmers.
This document is designed as a tutorial for the non-programmer to begin to create or modify iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad applications (apps) that include
a Google Maps basemap. After listing requirements and options, the first section guides the novice through the processes of installing the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) and building a simple application with basic Google Maps functionality from scratch. The second section shows potential uses for GeoGears and how to access a project prototype. This template allows users to integrate quickly their own geospatial point data into an app without any programming knowledge. Instructions show users how to substitute
the provided sample data with their own delimited text data to create a customized map.

Audio based Context Awareness on a Pocket PC

by Filip Bonnevier

ContextCapture: Using Context-based Awareness Cues to Create Narrative Events for Status Updates

by Ville Antila

Co-authored with Jussi Polet (VTT), Published In 13th ACM International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp 2011) - Poster & Demo session

In this paper we introduce an experimental application to demonstrate the usage of context-based awareness cues in... more In this paper we introduce an experimental application to demonstrate the usage of context-based awareness cues in status updates, especially in SNS’s (Social Networking Services). The presented application allows users to add different descriptions of context information to their Twitter messages and Facebook status updates in a narrative format. We have also developed an adapted version of the system including conference-specific context-types such as the timetable of the presentations and indoor-location detection using Bluetooth beacons. One goal for the demonstrator is to explore the practical use of context abstractions in a conference setup and synthesize interesting insight based on the usage patterns during the event.

Laptops in The Livingroom: Mobile Technologies and the Divide Between Work and Private Time Among Interactive Agency Workers

by Sam Ladner

This article examines how mobile technology use affects the division between private and work time among workers in... more This article examines how mobile technology use affects the division between private and work time among workers in interactive advertising agencies. These workers are frequent users of both personal and company-issued mobile technology. This article investigates the strategies workers use to restrict workplace access during their private time. Relying on the social construction of technology as a point of departure, this article investigates the impact of mobile technologies, as well as the organizational context in which they are used. Using a mixed-method approach, this article demonstrates that the use of mobile technologies does indeed render the home/work division more permeable, but it is not their use alone that determines this effect. Rather, it is the underlying social relations of workplaces that affect how individuals negotiate the use of these technologies in non-work time and space.

User experience on mobile video appreciation: How to engross users and to enhance their enjoyment in watching mobile video clips.

by Savvas Papagiannidis

Carbonell, X., Chamarro, A., Beranuy, M., Griffiths, M.D. Obert, U., Cladellas, R. & Talarn, A. (2012). Problematic Internet and cell phone use in Spanish teenagers and young students. Anales de Psicologia, in press.

by Mark Griffiths

Addiction to the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has become an important research topic. The aims of... more Addiction to the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has become an important research topic. The aims of the present study were to (i) determine the prevalence of problematic Internet and mobile cell phone use in Spanish teenagers and young students, and (ii) understand the addictive consequences of these phenomena in Spain. Three questionnaires were applied to 1,879 students: a general questionnaire for Internet and cell phone use, one scale for problematic use of the Internet (CERI) and one for problematic use of mobile cell phones (CERM). Cluster analysis yielded a solution involving three groups for both CERI and for CERM (i.e., no problems, occasional problems, and frequent problems). There were no differences between males and females in Internet use but there were more females showing frequent problematic use of cell phones. A comparison with nine previous Spanish studies suggests that:  (a) the amount of time spent on these technologies is not a good indicator of problems deriving from their use; (b) there appears to be a relationship between problematic Internet use and psychological distress (c) there were no differences found between males and females with respect to Internet use, though females showed more occasional problems related to mobile cell phone use; and (d) the population survey data alone do not confirm the existence of a persistent addictive disorder related to ICT.

Interview with Leila Nadir and Cary Peppermint of Ecoarttech

by Leila C. Nadir

Furtherfield.org Interview with Sophia Kosmaoglou - 20/04/2012

Refusing to regard technology merely as a tool, Ecoarttech expand the uses of mobile technology and digital networks... more Refusing to regard technology merely as a tool, Ecoarttech expand the uses of mobile technology and digital networks revealing them to be fundamental components of the way we experience our environment. Their most recent work Indeterminate Hikes + (IH +) is a phone app that maps a series of trails through the city. IH + can be accessed globally, or wherever users have access to Google Maps on their mobile phones. After identifying the users’ location, IH + generates a route along random “Scenic Vistas" within urban spaces. Users are directed to perform a series of tasks along the trail and provide feedback in the form of snapshots generating an ongoing, open-ended dialogue. But the experience of their work is primarily an encounter with technology. Since 2005, Leila Nadir and Cary Peppermint of Ecoarttech have been engaged in an artistic exploration of environmental sustainability and convergent media. By drawing our attention to the increasing replacement or mediation of physical experiences by technology, Ecoarttech challenge the widely reproduced distinction between nature and culture. They present their work in the form of videos, digital networks, blogs, performance and installations. Their early video-based work (Wilderness Trouble and Frontier Mythology) plays out a performative and ironic encounter with the natural environment as a historically constructed concept. In the summer of 2005 Ecoarttech made A Series of Practical Performances in the Wilderness (2005) a database networked performance in QuickTime (DVD and Podcast).

Mobile Public Art, Public Art Review

by Martha Ladly

Public Art Review, Issue 41, Fall/Winter 2009

Mobile art is a growing phenomenon, attracting new artists who see the potential for engaging new audiences, in both... more Mobile art is a growing phenomenon, attracting new artists who see the potential for engaging new audiences, in both urban and remote public environments. Mobile artworks are potentially ubiquitous and playful, possible and everywhere ¬– all that is required to participate is your presence in a particular public place, your intention to investigate or play, and a mobile device. The mobile devices (usually mobile phones and portable digital assistants) act as interfaces to the artworks, but portable CD players and computers, bicycles and cars, buildings, parks, trails, forests, and even mountains, have all been construed as media elements and interfaces for mobile public art.

Martha Ladly Mobile Communities 2012

by Martha Ladly

From desktop to mobile: Examining the security experience

by Reinhardt A. Botha

with Steve Furnell and Nathan Clarke, Computers & Security, 2009, pp. 130 - 137

The use of mobile devices is becoming more commonplace, with data regularly able to make the transition from desktop... more The use of mobile devices is becoming more commonplace, with data regularly able to make the transition from desktop systems to pocket and handheld devices such as smartphones and PDAs. However, although these devices may consequently contain or manipulate the same data, their security capabilities are not as mature as those offered in fully-fledged desktop operating systems. This paper explores the availability of security mechanisms from the perspective of a user who is security-aware in the desktop environment and wishes to consider utilising similar protection in a mobile context. Key issues of concern are whether analogous functionality can be found, and if so, whether it is offered in a manner that parallels the desktop experience (i.e. to ensure understanding and usability). The discussion is supported by an examination of the Windows XP and Windows Mobile environments, with specific consideration given to the facilities available for user authentication, secure connectivity, and content protection on the devices. It is concluded that although security aspects receive some attention, the provided means generally suffer from usability issues or limitations that would prevent a user from achieving the same level of protection that they might enjoy in the desktop environment.

Matlock: A Location Obfuscation Technique for Accuracy-Restricted Applications

by Pedro Wightman

Co-authhored with Miguel A. Jimeno, Daladier Jabba and Miguel Labrador
Presented in IEEE WCNC 2012

Location-based information systems (LBIS) have shown growth in the last years thanks to the popularization of cheap... more Location-based information systems (LBIS) have shown growth in the last years thanks to the popularization of cheap GPS-enabled mobile devices with connectivity to the Internet. At the same time, users have made their locations more available than ever, representing a major privacy problem, as attackers could easily determine their victims’ common paths or actual locations. As a result, some techniques have been designed to protect the users’ private information while allowing Location Based Service systems (LBS) to continue growing. Location obfuscation is a technique that alters, substitutes, or generalizes the real location of the users to protect them against malicious attacks. Moreover, there are activities that require a high level of accuracy while also maintaining the protection of the location, such as fleet management or transportation of valuables. In this work, a light-weight and fully reversible location obfuscation technique named Matlock is presented. Matlock, based on matrix obfuscation, requires low computation per operation and hides the location in both spatial and temporal dimensions. The performance evaluation shows how this technique alters the location of paths from different geographical regions, produces a non-morphologically similar path to the original path, and  enerates increasing distance functions between the original and the obfuscated paths, which together should reduce the probability of using estimation techniques to perform deobfuscation of the information.

Switching over to Paper: A New Web Channel

by Beat Signer

Moira C. Norrie and Beat Signer, Proceedings of WISE 2003, 4th International Conference on Web Information Systems Engineering. Rome, Italy, December 2003

We present a general web-based information infrastructure capable of supporting the rapid development of... more We present a general web-based information infrastructure capable of supporting the rapid development of highlyinteractive information environments that cater for widely varying requirements across application domains and all forms of fixed and mobile client devices. In particular, we describe how this infrastructure has been extended to support digitally augmented paper through a special transformation component that can map active areas of document pages to information objects so that user- and contextdependent interaction can be supported. Our infrastructure is sufficiently general and flexible to adapt to, not only emerging and even unanticipated technologies in the area of interactive paper, but also the rapidly expanding interaction sphere of hypermedia.